#mfuwe

Trunkards #400.  Another milestone! Or millstone. Or something.

As of yet, I haven’t had the inspiration to write about the travel aspect of my time so far in Zambia. This is mostly because I’ve been here in a living and working capacity.  The busyness and routine of my week-to-week in a new country is generally enough to make me feel like I’m engaging in a rich diversity of experiences.  However, just like living and working back home, I think it’s important to get out of town, mix up the routine and experience the wonders a country has to offer, not to mention contributing to the local economy through tourism.  As a foreign intern from a country with considerable wealth, it is problematic for me to flaunt that by running away each weekend to see parts of this country some of my most senior coworkers haven’t ever laid eyes on.  It only serves to create a divide from myself and my peers if I’m the only one able to get out of town that often and buy bus tickets, entry fees or restaurant food.  To level out the playing field a bit, many of my Zambian friends have experienced Mosi-oa-Tunya and a game drive many times, however, the reality is that most Zambians want to see these hallmarks of their country, yet many of them don’t get the opportunity.  That said, as a visitor to this country and a “baby intern” at the YWCA, my coworkers have made it clear that they want us to see these places.  They are, after all, part of a proud nation and host to a vastly breathtaking countryside. In this vein, it may be rude of me not to participate, at least modestly, as a tourist.  

As many a traveler would say, I believe there is exponential growth in the human spirit that takes place when one travels.  I feel like “myself” when on the road.  It is not as if I feel inhibited to be myself in my day-to-day in a general sense, yet, when I travel there are aspects of me that are forced out while interacting in a new environment, as well as aspects of me that are silenced while experiencing the awe of wonder.  Sometimes a traveler is humbled meeting new people, or seeing a natural wonder. Sometimes a traveler feels invincible after surviving an unlikely mishap.  Sometimes a traveler feels like the coolest kid at school because the rad people they’ve met make them feel that way.  The travelers’ life is made up of experiences that simultaneously breaks and strengthens them.  So far on this internship I’ve felt mostly humbled, as the role that I’m in is very much one of learning, and my day-to-day keeps me quiet and reflective, at least compared to how I am normally.  But having had the chance to get out of town twice now, I can say I’ve felt the presence of the traveler in me again.  One thing I didn’t count on for this internship experience was how little I would feel like myself sometimes.  Back home, being a barista in a hip caffe with a whole pack of crazy family and friends I had such a safety net of being a weirdo, being funny and being myself.  But here, it is sometimes even challenging to cross the street, reducing me to feeling as though I am a vulnerable child who has to learn how to do things by myself all over again.  There are aspects of the confident me that are considerably shadowed here.  Going to Mosi-oa-Tunya, otherwise known as the Victoria Falls, and Mfuwe National Park in South Luangwa was a good reminder for me that I am Aja, from the west coast.  An individual with a sense of humour and adventure.  Even though I was reminded of those aspects of myself I was still the humbled traveler. If you’ve seen the true size of a female lions’ paw or stood under the shower that is the mist of the Victoria Falls, you’ll know what I’m talking about.  

The Wonders of the South Luangwa Game Drive:  wild animals, there is something so innocent yet so disconcerting about them.  They are dangerous, they are beautiful, they are unpredictable if you don’t know their language, they are strange, they are cute, they are silly-looking, and they are very scary.  And very different in real life as oppose to on screen or in a photograph.  I saw a male and female lion, away from the pride on a mating getaway, lazing in the shades of some bushes.  Their matted fur was the colour of sun-burnt grass.  Their gaping eyes in gigantic heads, looked at us with the nonchalance of a housecat.  I saw herds of zebras, some of them with their young.  Every zebra has a different pattern of stripes, no two the same, like snowflakes, or a thumbprint.  Long-necked giraffes, graceful on their long limbs, batting long eyelashes.  The warthogs were always seen in family groups, 2 parents, 2 children.  But the elephants were my favourite.  Something about the elephants really struck me.  Like all wild animals they can be dangerous when provoked, but these gentle beasts have a sweetness I’ve never seen matched to any other creature.  They are big and slow but very graceful, and surprisingly quiet for something so large.  I like to think of them as the friendly giants of the animal world.  It was unreal seeing them grazing among the trees only feet from the steps of our cabin.  The lodges are scattered throughout the national park so the animals roam free even in the grounds.  You get driven to your cabin at night.  That’s when the leopards come out.  One was on our porch when we woke up.  The guide who came to collect us told us so.

The Wonders of the Victoria Falls: cascading, giant, breathtaking tonnes of rushing water.  In a word, unfathomable.  The waters of what is traditionally called Mosi-oa-Tunya, were the most powerful natural wonder I’ve ever seen.  I am still unable to grasp exactly how it is possible that nearly 625 million litres of water a minute are able to continuously fall.   Mosi-oa-Tunya means “the smoke that thunders”.  And that’s exactly what it does.  It’s loud and impressive.  The only other time I can remember being around something so loud was during a torrential storm in Cambodia.  The crack of thunder was just 2 seconds after the flash of lightening.  I was near enough to have been hit but was safely grounded on my porch with many tall things around me that were an easy target. I felt so small and insignificant.  Standing under the spray of the Falls was a similar experience.  The spray caused by the plunging waterfall was just like standing in one spot and having many buckets of water poured on me.  It was exhilarating and breathtaking.  By far, my favourite vantage point was just sitting on the rocks watching the whirling pools of The Boiling Pot.  I watched a bungee jumper on the bridge silently fall from their perch only to hang suspended in the air a few hundred metres above the riverbed. They seemed so small above the torrential waters.  I imagined, for just a second, what it would be like to be in that water.  I concluded certain death.  

Mfuwe, South Luangwa, Zambia — Croc Valley Camp | taken by Freeha Siddiqi

 Einige Logdes des South Luangwa Nationalparks unterstützen regionale Schulen und Projekte wie z.B. die Textilfabrik „Tribal Textile“ (http://www.tribaltextiles.co.zm/index.html). Hier werden Baumwollstoffe mit traditionellen Mustern bemalt und im hauseigenen Shop vertrieben.

Eine Sonderbestellung für ein Luxus-Hotel in London: 60 Meter handgemalte Streifen.

Statt Wachs wird mit Wasser verdünntes Backpulver verwendet, um beim Färben bestimmte Stellen auszusparen.